The present invention relates to an improved breech plug for use in a black powder firearm such as a muzzleloading rifle.
Up until now in traditional black powder rifles, the flame from the percussion cap came through a flash channel at a right angle to the bottom of a breech plug. This has caused a number of problems. In all cases, it has slowed down the time that it took for the flame to get to the charge, which in turn increased the time it took from when the trigger was pulled until the charge went off. In all cases, when the flame got to the charge, it was not as strong or as hot as it needed to be for reliable ignition of the powder. Further, shooters were forced into using loose black powder or Pyrodex powder and were unable to take advantage of modern Pyrodex powder pellets. These modern pellets require the flame to hit them on their bottom in order to give reliable ignition of the pellet.